Stakeholder Engagement and Materiality Assessment
The Bank’s priorities relating to ESG are guided by the core principle of “Being Responsible, Being Sustainable”. Materiality assessment is an important step to recognise and prioritise the ESG topics, most relevant to the Bank’s business and its stakeholders. The Bank factors in stakeholder views in determining sustainability topics, and analyse its impact on long-term performance. We believe this would help us deliver value to our stakeholders and address societal issues.
Given the changing landscape, evolving regulatory environment and changes in stakeholder priorities, the Bank re-examined the key ESG-related material topics to identify priority areas considered important by its stakeholders. The previous materiality assessment was conducted in fiscal 2022.
The approach involved compiling a list of potential material ESG topics by benchmarking them against international standards and frameworks such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). Similar to the previous assessment, we also conducted a benchmarking with leading industry peers to ensure completeness of our ESG focus areas. This was followed by shortlisting the potential topics to be considered for seeking feedback from stakeholders.
| Identifying universe of relevant ESG Topics | Shortlisting Potential Topics | Stakeholder Identification | Stakeholder Engagement | Analysis and Prioritisation of Topics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listing of potential topics by assessing international standards, sectoral approach and peer benchmarking | Basis the potential list and internal discussions, identified 14 key topics considered important for the Bank | Stakeholder mapping based on relevance and their ability to influence value creation | Engagement with internal and external stakeholders through a survey | Post survey analysis and final shortlisting of topics across E, S and G |
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The Bank identified 14 material topics for feedback from stakeholders
| Environmental | Social | Governance |
|---|---|---|
|
1. Sustainable and responsible finance 2. Carbon emissions and resource efficiency in own operations |
3. Improving customer experience and satisfaction 4. Customer fairness and transparency 5. Leadership development and succession planning 6. Employee practices 7. Supporting financial inclusion 8. Community well-being 9. Grievance redressal mechanism for stakeholders like customers and employees |
10. Corporate governance and compliance with regulations and laws 11. Digital innovation and technology 12. Cybersecurity and data protection 13. Financial performance 14. Effective risk management |
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Inclusive Stakeholder Engagement
The feedback on the perceived importance of each material topic was sought through a materiality survey shared with stakeholders comprising employees, customers, investors, vendors and industry partners.
Results of the Materiality Assessment in Fiscal 2025
Top 10 material topics identified by the Bank (Topics are listed in alphabetical order, and not in order of importance)
| Material Topic | Risks and Opportunities | Strategic Approach | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Environmental:Carbon emissions and resource efficiency in the Bank’s own operations |
Reputation risk of not meeting the target set to become carbon neutral in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by fiscal 2032. There are opportunities to adopt viable and feasible new technologies and emerging approaches in this area and contribute to national goals. |
Assessing the environmental impact of the Bank’s own operations and facilities is necessary to develop the roadmap towards carbon neutrality in Scope 1 and 2 emissions. |
Own operations |
|
Governance:Corporate governance and compliance with regulations and laws |
Business, regulatory and reputation risks of not meeting expectations and requirements. Establishing strong corporate governance principles builds trust among our stakeholders and translates into business opportunities. |
Ensuring adherence to regulatory compliance, through policy and procedures for effective implementation by the relevant teams in the Bank, and a strong risk and compliance culture. Prioritising transparency by maintaining fair and balanced disclosures, supplementing them with relevant updates, whenever required. |
Own operations and value chain |
|
Social:Customer fairness and transparency |
Unethical behaviour, mis-selling and improper engagement with customers creates business and reputation risks. This could also attract regulatory penalties. Trust is very important to ensure long-term relationship with customers and building confidence in engagements and conduct of business. |
Offering simple products and value-added tech-enabled services while upholding transparency in all engagements. Foster trust through clear and accurate communication about products and services to enable customers to take sound decisions to meet their financial needs. |
Value chain |
|
Governance:Cybersecurity and data protection |
Financial, legal, operational and reputation risks of rising cyber threats, phishing, ransomware and data breaches. A secure and trustworthy digital banking avenue can be a significant differentiator. |
Maintaining vigilance and active management of cyber threats, IT risks and disruption, data security, upholding customers’ privacy rights, and meeting data privacy laws and regulatory requirements. |
Own operations and value chain |
|
Governance:Digital innovation and technology |
Rapid technological changes and risk of obsolete legacy systems can impact productivity and increase cost of delivering banking services. Opportunities in enhanced customer experience and streamlining processes for operational efficiency. |
Advancement of technologies and adoption of new-age tech opportunities enable customers to enjoy better accessibility, security, convenience, and transaction transparency. Digital finance is enhancing social value in customer centricity and information protection aspects and also positively contributing towards environmental factors. |
Own operations and value chain |
|
Governance:Effective risk management |
Inadequate understanding and oversight of risks, existing and emerging, can undermine long-term stability and lead to credit, regulatory, reputation and financial risks. Effective implementation of risk management practices contributes to resilience and financial stability, leading to enhanced stakeholder confidence. |
Have a robust enterprise-wide risk management strategy that identifies, assesses and mitigates risks like credit defaults, market fluctuations and operational failures, using advanced processes and technology. Climate change related aspects, like assessing physical and transitional risks, which could potentially impact the Bank’s operations and borrowers. As sustainability efforts grow in the economy, explore opportunities to support projects and activities based on a robust risk-return assessment. |
Own operations and value chain |
|
Social:Employee practices |
Weak employee practices runs the risk of low employee morale, high attrition and reputation risk. This in turn can impact business significantly. Fostering innovative thinking and responsible work culture can help attract and retain talent for business growth and build brand equity. |
Focussing on employee well-being, regular employee engagement initiatives and inclusive workplace that ensures a diverse, equitable and non-discriminatory work environment. Through continuous investment in skill development and leadership programmes, enhance the capabilities of employees to serve customers effectively and contribute to long-term success. |
Own operations |
|
Governance:Financial performance |
Deficiencies in meeting investor expectations or regulatory capital requirements can impact market valuation and ability to access stable sources of funds. Financial stability is fundamental to long-term value creation for all stakeholders and supports investment in innovation, sustainable practices, employee development and risk mitigation. |
The strategic approach remains anchored on the principles of ‘Fair to Customer, Fair to Bank’ and ‘Return of Capital’, coverage led by focus on Customer 360° and delivery framework within the guardrails of risk and compliance focussed on simplification of processes and digital services. |
Own operations and value chain |
|
Social:Improving customer experience and satisfaction |
Not meeting expectations on service quality, lack of personalisation and weak grievance redressal mechanisms can lead to negative publicity, loss of business and regulatory complaints. Deepening relationship and offering seamless digital platforms for customers can increase wallet share by improving satisfaction. |
Customer centricity is core to the Bank’s strategy, which makes ensuring transparency and meeting customer needs by nurturing relationships critical. Integration of different channels, such as email, phone, chatbots and call centre onto the same platform to offer ‘zero-drop-off’ experience. Conduct regular customer awareness campaigns on safe banking through various channels. |
Value chain |
|
Social:Leadership development and succession planning |
A robust leadership pipeline is critical for business continuity, consistency in approach and prepare for future requirements. |
Development and succession planning of the Board and key management personnel are important for the successful implementation of our strategy and stability of the organisation. |
Own operations |
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